Military build up and stronger partnership with US
The second worst country, Brazil scored poorly on both street safety and intentional homicide against women. The US government warns tourists not to walk alone at night in Brazil, or try to physically resist a robbery attempt.
The most visited country of the top five worst for female travelers, Mexico ranked abysmally for street safety, intentional homicide, and non-partner sexual violence.
Russia scored poorly on intentional homicide against women and non-partner sexual violence, breaking the top three on this list.
Scoring poorly on street safety, non-partner sexual violence, and intentional homicide of women, historically women traveling to South Africa are warned not to hike, drive, walk, or move about alone. It was found to be by far the most dangerous option for female solo travelers, according to the metrics of this study.
Despite there being low rates of intentional homicide on women in Iran, the gender gap is the worst, while the country also scores terribly for inequality and discrimination.
The study found the Dominican Republic isn’t safe for women traveling alone. The country scored particularly poorly on street safety.
India ranked worst in terms of gender inequality in the study. It also had poor rankings for intimate partner violence. Almost 90% of women who are raped in India knew the perpetrator.
Morocco was the worst country on the list for intimate partner violence. For street safety and the global gender gap, it also scored poorly.
Egypt was the 10th worst country for street safety. It also ranked poorly in both the global gender gap (fourth worst) and gender inequality (sixth worst).
Poor street safety, legal discrimination, and gender inequality give Tunisia its ranking, a country where at least 47% of the country’s women are affected by domestic violence.
Street safety, the gender pay gap, and gender inequality led to Ukraine's ranking. "Ukrainians do not consider gender-based discrimination in the workplace a serious issue," shared Lyric Fergusson with Forbes.
In Bahrain, rapists are protected from being prosecuted if they are married to their victims or if they move forward to marry them. The country was fourth worst in terms of legal discrimination against women, and it scored poorly on street safety.
Turkey had the fourth worst rating for intimate partner violence, the fifth worst in the global gender gap, and the eighth worst in street safety. The study found 89.2% of women in Turkey have been subject to violence from their spouses.
The third worst country for violence towards women attitudes, in Cambodia "over half of men believe that women provoke men into being violent toward them," Lyric Fergusson told Forbes.
Street harassment has affected three out of four people in Chile—and 85% of those people are women. On a daily basis, 40% of women are harassed and 90% have experienced some sort of harassment, according to the study.
Argentina scored the third worst with street safety and the 10th worst with intentional homicide of women. Robberies are also quite common in Buenos Aires.
The most dangerous Western country on the list, the US scores poorly on street safety, non-partner sexual violence, and a host of gender inequality issues. Homicide is the third most likely way to die for women aged between 20 and 24.
Saudi Arabia was worst on the list for its legal discrimination against women. Many women flee Saudi Arabia to find their own freedom and to escape abuse.
Thailand had the worst score on the list regarding violence against women attitudes, and is ranked 10th worst overall.
Very poor ratings for intimate partner violence and gender inequality combine to give Malaysia its place of 11th worst on the list.
Surprisingly, Norway is the only Scandinavian country in the top 10. There is low intentional homicide of women in Norway, and it scored highly for women feeling safe walking alone at night.
Austria had some of the lowest levels of sexual violence and gender inequality out of all the destinations reviewed in the study.
Spain performed well across the categories, to take the top spot as the safest country on Earth for women traveling alone.
Sources: (Forbes) (Asher & Lyric) (World Population Review)
See also: The best travel destinations based on your zodiac sign
Ireland had relatively low levels of non-partner sexual violence, as well as low levels of legal discrimination, gender inequality, and violence against women’s attitudes.
Intentional homicide of women is relatively low in Canada, as is intimate partner violence. The country also scored well on the gender inequality index, and for violence against women attitudes
Beautiful Croatia scored well, with non-partner sexual violence being low, along with intentional violence towards women.
But it's not all doom and gloom! Let's now look at the safest countries for female travelers. Poland scored well in the categories of intentional homicide towards women, non-partner sexual violence, and violence towards women attitudes, to make it the 10th safest country on the list.
By far the safest Asian country on the planet, Singapore had excellent ratings, including 92% of women feeling safe when walking alone at night.
Switzerland performed very well in the study with street safety, as well as having low levels of intentional homicide against women.
Portugal scored well across most categories in the study to take the place of seventh safest country for female solo travelers.
Intrigued? Take a look at their findings by clicking through the following gallery.
The most dangerous (and the safest) countries for female travelers
If you're a woman, think twice before visiting these places alone
LIFESTYLE Women
In an attempt to determine which countries are the most dangerous for female travelers, husband and wife journalists Asher and Lyric Fergusson studied and ranked the 50 most popular countries amongst tourists. The data was compiled using sources ranging from the 2018 Gallup World Poll to Equal Measures 2030's Gender Advocates Data Hub. The Fergusson's Women’s Danger Index ranked each country based on eight factors: street safety for women, intentional homicide of women, non-partner sexual violence, intimate partner sexual violence, legal discrimination, global gender gap, gender inequality index, and violence against women attitudes. Using these metrics, their list of the 20 most dangerous countries for women emerges.
Intrigued? Take a look at their findings by clicking through the following gallery.